that fixture is amazing

 

I'll admit I had some issue with the paper gasket and wasn't a fan of the assembly as it came out of the box, but I don't entirely agree with your harsh assessment either. Once I purchased the silicone gasket, which as pointed out is designed to overcome the exact problem you set about correcting with a lathe, there were no issues. No silicone, no repeated assembly and reassembly, when bolted together it just worked. This is a very common design but the gasket wasn't correct, despite many people on this board having success with it (and likely some RTV).

Some of my cars have a machined groove in the housing body and use circular gasket with a U channel that fits over the circumference of the thermostat before being set into the groove, others use an o-ring on top of the thermostat to create the seal. I think that's the correct approach and I wouldn't use a machined-groove housing with a paper gasket. I think that's asking for trouble over time. Nice jig, reminds me of my own caliber of work! Hopefully that's not galvanized hardware.

 

Man, that's some real aggressiveness considering the vast multitude of happy customers. I really think you're creating problems where there aren't any.

I'd agree, having one side machined out and using an o-ring type seal (a-la LS thermostats) could be beneficial, but having the housings machined out is a significant cost increase to fix an assumed issue that has not been seen across a cumulative hundreds of thousands of miles.

At the end of the day I've got no dog in this fight. I've never specifically used one of Extinct's kits because I have some other design constraints I like to stick with, but I wouldn't hesitate to use one as is out of the box.

I'm all for constructive criticism and discussion, but I think your assessment is a bit much.

 

IMO, RoverMasterTech is a good example of why Automotive shops have Service Writers to deal with customers. Something about being able to deal with most of your problems with a hammer that can make a guy a bit abrasive. Is he wrong...nope. Could it have been said a bit nicer...yep. Is he just the kind of guy you'd want in your corner, cuz he knows his stuff and is ridiculously good at what he does...you betchya!!! I hired and kept techs like him at my shops every day of the week, I just used to keep them away from the customers, at least the sensitive ones, lol. But IME, you'll seldom find a better tech...just sayin

Extinct's kit is obviously pieced together from parts that were never intended to be used that way, but "works". There are other inline thermostats kits out there that are machined nicely and are purpose built to do the job "right", with thermostat recesses and O-ring seals. I too was a lil shocked when I received Extincts kit, didn't expect it to be like it is, seemed a bit hokey to me as well, and would have probably bought the Meziere setup had I realized what it was. But, lessons learned, and for what it's worth, Extincts kit "works" great, well enough that I didn't feel the need to spend more money on another brand.....for now, lol

 

​​​​​​I paid 100 bucks for parts I wouldn't use without modifications. I have used meziere in line thermos for 14 years on these trucks. There's no reason not to use meziere or jegs thermos with flex hoses. It's the same cost and imo looks way better. This kit is bull****, its reinventing the wheel except this wheel sucks.

 

Damn man, at first I was just going to make a sarcastic post about how you should have just cut one out of billet T6 instead of using that crappy cast ****. You are obviously one of those guys that likes to do everything the hard way. But now I am just wondering why you didn't just return it if you were so dis-satisfied and go with the Jegs or Meziere. Everything is 100% satisfaction guaranteed for a lifetime. Hell I even return the shipping cost if people are dis-satisfied.

Well I guess it bears repeating the downside to the Mezieres or Jegs and people reading this thread can decide which one they prefer. As I state at the top of the thread, I recommend the inline mod even if you do not use the kit and use the Meziere or Jegs. The kit just makes it easy for people to get all the parts they need and select the options they want or they can go minimum cost if they prefer. I personally would never use one without the re-usable silicone gasket but the paper gaskets have worked successfully for literally dozens of people.

1. The Meziere and Jegs are straight, not angle in the housing. Placement in the disco can be done but typically users cut the radiator shroud or use several additional hoses. The angled kit enables installation with no additional hoses and no cutting of the radiator shroud.2.
2. The Meziere requires some very large wrenches or pliers to dis-assemble if you want to swap or remove the thermostat. Maybe not something you carry in your trail kit.
3. The Jegs uses 5 allen head bolts, besides the needs for the tool as above the dis-assembly requires removing 5 bolts instead of two.
4. Relative to the above, the kit uses two bolts and nuts in standard 12 and 13mm sizes - most Rover guys carry those in the truck as part of a trail kit.
5. The Jegs and Meziere do not include a thermostat nor the lower hose bushing. Some have used a BMW hose that fits nicely instead of the bushing, but still an additional part. Building your own kit is still better than using the factory style thermostat.

I had a thermostat element go bad last year in my original truck. I removed it on the side of the road in 5 minutes, put it back together and kept driving with no element installed (It had the re-usable silicone gasket installed). Two bolts instead of 5 allen screws or 1-1/2 wrenches was appreciated in that situation.

As stated I warranty everything in the kit 100% satisfaction guaranteed for a lifetime including shipping. I don't typically request bad parts be returned, reducing hassle for the users.

Anyone else has any questions or issues, feel free to email me or post them here.

 

I agree with that, and ice hire him in my shop in a heartbeat. I've seen his posts for years now and he knows what he's talking about, but along the same lines I've known a lot of guys who really know their stuff but they get caught up in whether things are up to *their* standard. I don't think the kit is perfect, but I think it's good enough for most and it keeps all the parts standard and easily attainable when replacements are necessary.

I hear you, but while you wouldn't use it many folks would and have. I've also use the Meziere housing, as well as the Jegs housing, and the Chinese housing (my favorite if the three) with a temp sensor fitting.

Edit: I will note that the Jegs housing I have also seen the threads pull out of. I know that is an over-tightening issue, but again we're back to the real of being a bit more daunting for those less experienced.

The very reason it reinvented the wheel is to keep parts as cheap and standard as possible. Yeah, you can go with the Meziere housing and flex hoses for maybe an extra $50 (last I looked at parts), but there's also the time in searching out those parts and figuring what'll work. Not a problem for guys like you and I, but for beginners it can be a little more daunting. There's something to be said for just clicking buy once and throwing on parts that have already been figured out, and by someone who obviously stands by their product.

Who knows, maybe since you already have the fixture made the two of you work out a deal to machine a batch of housings at a time and then Extinct could include the LS style seal instead of the paper gaskets, as an option to pay a premium for an upgraded kit.

 

In the spirit of the Master Tech's post: Screw the machined housing, it's simply not necessary. Nice? Sure, but if you can't make do with Extinct's kit then you shouldn't have a Disco. These trucks are DIY. Get the kit, add a silicone gasket and stop complaining. Anyone that wants a machined housing raise your hand, with your checkbook in it. It's gilding the lily...

Believe me, I felt equally flummoxed by that included paper gasket affair. It was crap and I get what the OPs motivation was when he retooled it. The thermo moved around, it leaked (for me) and I wanted to kill it until I upgraded the gasket to one designed for this application. To dismiss the viability of the entire kit because not everyone has a horizontal lathe and a mig welder in their garage makes zero sense. Yes, that's an upgrade no doubt, but you'd better use an o-ring at minimum. For me, the $15 silicone gasket made this concept failsafe and foolproof. I'll go one step further and say there's nothing wrong with the original thermostat design, but substandard replacement parts have made that a crap shoot at best. Get Extinct's kit and a silicone gasket and you won't need anything else. I applaud Master Tech's ingenious solution, truly, that same concept had occurred to me as well, but unless you're using the right seal for THAT design you're really no better off. From an engineering standpoint that whole approach brings little to the table, it just costs more.

 

I bought the kit thinking it was well designed. I thought I was doing it the easy way. Now I'm re engineering someone else's kit. lol.

.Then why are you shipping kits without the silicone gasket?

.1. It's the right way to do it.
2. No, you can unscrew it with your hand. Because it uses a rubber gasket, you can hand tighten till the aluminum halves touch and you're done.
3. So what? its 5 little allen heads.
4. Ok
5. I would much rather buy a 13 dollar hose off rock auto than connect my 2 stretched out 20 year old coolant hoses together. I mean even the top hose was swelled to 1-1/2 where it connected to thermostat housing, and these are not old hoses.

You can fix the kit easily and charge 20 dollars extra. Add the BMW hose and machine the face to accept a larger diameter thermostat. That would fix the sandwich of glue and gaskets and would also stop the thermo from being able to fall in the other half of the housing.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...hermostat,2200

These are 2-5/8 inch instead of 2.15 inch in diameter and come in 174, 180, 190, ect. It would be way better to machine the housing to fit one of these.

 

Curious if anyone has come up with a better replacement upper hose than OE? Just being lazy, I suppose I could go to the parts store and ask to rummage thru the hoses to find one that'd work, I was just hoping someone else had already done that. Seems like the OE hose is soft and swells a lot, so are the URO replacements. Besides that, you always have to buy the whole 3 hose thing, and now with the inline thermostat, you don't need it. I'd just like a more trustworthy hose that doesn't swell like it's gonna fall apart